Radio antenna



July 17, 1956 H. ETHERIDGE 2,755,469

RADIO ANTENNA Filed June 19, 1951 O 0 l l /-//5 lav v arney.

rates This invention relates generally to inductive radio receivingantennas for prognosticating weather conditions and more particularly toantennas for use in receiving from the ordinary AM broadcasting stationsto determine the changing atmospheric conditions between the sending andreceiving stations.

The antenna comprising this invention is preferably constructed of wireof very small cross section, such as No. 40 gauge which is approximatelyof .0031 inch. This very fine wire is preferably employed with anenameled coating so that the turns of the coil will be insulated fromone another. This inductive radio receiving antenna is preferably woundon an open coil form which may be approximately a two and a quarterinchcylinder or a four-inch card that has a central opening of at leastfiVe-eighths of an inch, and the primary and secondary windings areWound together so that they lie close to and parallel with one another.The preferred form of coil is that of a helical coil rather than acompact spirally wound coil. The coil may be wound spirally or in acombination of a helical and spiral coil.

It is preferable to have at least two windings in this antenna; onewinding being open at both ends and the other winding being open at oneend and constructed for connection with a radio receiving circuit at itsother end. The winding that is open at both ends is defined as theprimary winding and the winding that is connected with the radioreceiving circuit is defined as the secondary winding. It is preferableto employ a primary winding that is longer than the secondary winding.The primary winding may be as much as twice the length of the secondarywinding or in terms of feet the primary winding may be fifty feet andthe secondary winding twentyfive feet.

An inductive radio receiving antenna of this construction is intendedfor use in determining the moisture in the ether between the sending andreceiving stations. By checking the degree of moisture in the ether atdifferent radial locations from the receiving station and plotting theintensity variations in the current readings during difierent intervalsof time, one is enabled to determine the concentration and the movementof the moisture and thus plot a weather forecasting chart from thereadings obtained.

A measurement of the conduction of the radio freuency current wavesthrough the ether is an infallible means of detecting and measuring thedegree of moisture in the ether, and one must eliminate the hysteresiswhich accompanies the passage of high frequency currents through theatmosphere by employing a wire in the induction radio receiving antennathat has a minimum cross sectional area in both the primary andsecondary circuits of the antenna.

it is known by experiment that the energy from the sun in the daytimedecreases the strength of the signal from broadcasting stations. Throughlong and very extended experiment I have determined that the energy2,755,469 Patented July 17, 1956 from the sun inhibits the flow of radiofrequency energy. The sun thus forms an effective negative potentialrequiring one to increase the volume control when the sun is out and todecrease the same control in the evening after sunset. Knowing suchconditions to exist, one can then record readings from time to time todetermine the relative conditions for such readings. From the conditionsand comparative readings the instrument can be calibrated to read theexact moisture content and one can forecast the weather conditionsknowing the direction of the wind and the temperature. If stormsgenerally come from a certain given direction broadcasting stations fromthat direction may be employed to check their progress and determine thetime when the storm will arrive at the receiving station or at otherpoints in the direction of the movement of the storm. Such experimentsare defined by me as Ether-Scoping as set forth in a publication by meunder copyright in 1946 in a second publication entitled Supplement toEther-Scoping, published and copyrighted by me in 1947.

The inductive radio receiving antenna comprising this invention is oneof the important elements that should be employed in conjunction with AMreceiving sets for ether-scoping to determine and forecast the weather.The forecasting of the weather by this method during all seasons issubstantially the same, that is, snow as well as rain and hail willproduce an effective negative potential reducing the flow of the radioenergy through the ether.

An ordinary milliammeter may be employed in the speakers circuit of aradio receiver as the base for conducting measurements. The reading ofthe current in milliammeters in this circuit must be based upon a normor other basic value which may be determined by repeated experiments.The ordinary change of intensity during a program is not used as a basisfor a reading. This milliammeter may be regulated by the volume controland by repeated use of the predetermined volume control values, one isenabled to establish a fixed control position which may be employed asthe zero or base reading from which the computations may be made. Dayand night readings differ from each other in dete mining the degree ofmoisture in the air. The readings may be made during the time that thecarrier current is issuing from the radio broadcasting station and notnecessarily from a particular program which, of course, requires thevariation of signal strength owing to the type of program or the rangeof frequency of the person talking or singing. One should eliminate allfactors leading to varying signal strength that would ordinarily occurduring a broadcast. That short pause between announce ments or betweenparts or phases of a program will always bring the meter down to thenorm or the degree thereabove or below, depending upon the conditions ofthe atmosphere. Then, too, a check may be made by increasing the volumecontrol so as to change the norm to a predetermined calibrated number ofmilliamps from that ordinarily selected as the base. These conditionswill provide an equivalent change if the atmosphere is clear andeverything is normal, otherwise the changes will be nil and materiallyaffected by the degree of moisture in the air between the broadcastingstation and the receiving set.

After experiments over many years I discovered that one should employ aninductive type radio receiving antenna to receive the best and unbiasedresults of etherscoping. This type of antenna provides the least amountof loss of energy which is defined in my publication as hysteresis lossdue to the high frequency inductive radio current waves, and it likewiseprovides the best type of signal by elimination of all other factorsthat may lead to some incorrect variation of the base or norm in makingup the readings. Thus the inductive radio receiving antenna whichcomprises this invention plays a very important part in computing theatmospheric conditions. It also provides a very simple and economic modeof making prognostications of the coming weather conditions. It is truethat other types of aerials may be employed for this purpose, however,it is found that the inductive antenna, comprising this invention,provides the most eflicient results for this purpose.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinattcr in the followingdescription and claims.

The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplificationwithout limiting the invention or claims hereto, certain practicalembodiments of the invention wherein:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a helical inductive radio receivingantenna constructed of a circular helical winding.

Fig. 2 is a view of a similar inductive radio receiving antenna wound ona card of specific dimensions.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of a combined helical and conicalinductive winding for use as a radio receiving antenna.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a cross section of a compact coilforming an inductive radio receiving antenna comprising this invention.

Referring to Fig. l of the drawings, the induction radio receivingantenna as shown in Fig. 1 comprises the primary winding 1 which iswound in a helical form and is cylindrical for the full length of thewinding. The secondary winding 2 is wound closely adjacent to andparallel with the primary winding for its full length which issubstantially half of that of the primary winding. As previously statedthe preferable length of the primary winding is approximately fiftyfeet, the secondary is preferably approximately twenty-five feet andboth windings should be made of No. 40 gauge wire which is .9031 inch.

The secondary winding is provided with a terminal as indicated at 3. itwill be noted that the ends 4 and 5 of the primary winding are free andunconnected with anything. The end 6 of the secondary winding 2 is alsofree being unconnected with anything, whereas the terminal 3 on theother end of the secondary winding is constructed for connection to theradio receiving circuit.

The primary and secondary windings are preferably made of insulatedcopper wire. The insulation is preferably enamel to permit the primaryand secondary winding to be closely adjacent to one another althoughinsulated. This may be done by insulating the two wires together so thatthey will maintain a uniform proximity throughout the winding.

in Fig. 2 the inductive antenna winding is of helical form and made on acard, the card of which is approximately five-eighths of an inch thickin the center and it is four inches wide being and one-halt inches long.A winding of fifty feet of primary and secondary may be effected on acard of this dimension and the seconds winding may be constructed, asillustrated at 7 in Fig. 2, of the same length as that of primary 8. Theterminal 3 of the secondary winding is constructed to be connected to aradio receiving circuit and the other ends 4, 5 and 6 of the winding areto be free as indicated on the drawings.

The structure as shown in Fig. 3 illustrates the primary winding 10 andthe secondary winding 11 is wound in a combination heiical spiral,wherein the induction radio receiving antenna has its terminal 3 at thesmaller end. This form of induction winding likewise provides excellentreception qualities and is better adapted for the higher wave lengths ofradio reception.

The windings such as illustrated in Fig. 4 wherein the primary andsecondary are grouped tightly together and wound .in a tight coil. Thesecondary may be half as long or of the same length as the primary. Thestructures shown in Figs. 1 to 3 are preferable. However the data to beobtained from each of these inductively coupled radio receivingantennas, comprising this invention and as illustrated in each of thefour figures, is relative. A norm or basic readings are obtained andfrom these readings calibrations are made from which weathercomputations can be directly interpreted. Irrespective of the type ofantenna winding employed, one can determine a norm upon which thecalibrations can be made. The relative measurements between some of theantenna structures shown provide little change in the reading. However,it is believed that the best results are obtainable by the use of thestructure as shown in the Figs. 1 to 3 over that of Fig. 4 on anyordinary antenna.

The milliammeter giving the readings may be placed in the plate circuitfeeding the output, whether the load be in form of an oscilloscope or aloudspeaker, or this current reading instrument may be placed in theloudspeaker circuit itself and it will read the amount of energyobtained from the particular station, which energy will not fluctuate toany degree from day to day owing to the constant power output ordinarilyemitted by the selected transmitting station from day to day. Thus oneis enabled to produce a norm reading and upon determining the exactamount of energy required to obtain this norm, one can determine theamount of moisture in the atmosphere between the transmitting stationand the receiving station and by plotting a polar diagram the differencein the norm for different stations of the same or known power, andpositioned at different de rees radially from the receiving station onecan chart the course of the movement of moisture and determine theduration and the amount of rain to be received at diiferent positions onthe chart. By plotting the course of the storm one is enabled toapproximately prognosticate the future course that the storm will takeafter going beyond the limits between the broadcasting station and thereceiver.

The secondary winding need not be less in length than the primary. Theionger the secondary becomes in relation to the length of the primary,the less volume control is necessary to produce the required normalreading on the milliamrneter. in other words, when the secondary isshorter than the primary, it is necessary to turn up the volume controland increase the power of the set in crder to obtain a fixed norm orbase reading obtained from an inductive antenna having a longersecondary. if the secondary is substantially the same length as theprimary, the reading of the miiliammeter in the plate circuit or in theoutput circuit will be less than that normally obtained when using asecondary of shorter length. The inductive antennas with the shortersecondaries thus require a higher or greater adjustment of the volumecontrol than the inductive antennas having longer secondaries. One willhave similar results with the secondary shorter and the volume controlincreased. This combination is believed to eliminate other factors thatwould ordinarily detract from obtaining a true reading. That is why itis believed to be preferable to have a primary of No. 46 wiresubstantially fifty feet long and a secondary of the same size wiresubstantially twenty five feet.

While, for clarity of explanation, certain embodiments of this inventionhave been shown and described, it is to be understood that thisinvention is capable of many modifications and many changes in theconstruction and arrangement of parts may be made therein and certainparts may be employed without the conjoint use of other parts andwithout departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. An inductive radio receiving antenna comprising a primary and asecondary of fine wires each insulated from the other, said fine wireswound together in the same direction in the form of a coil, both ends ofat least one of said fine wire windings in the coil being unconnectedand forming the primary winding, and one end of at least another of saidfine wire winding in the coil being free and unconnected and forming thesecondary winding with its other end constructed for connection with aradio receiving circuit.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said fine wires arewound together closely adjacent each other.

3. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said coil comprisesonly two windings, the primary and secondary, and the two fine wires arewound together to form a helical coil.

4. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said coil comprisesonly two windings, the primary and secondary, and the primary winding islonger than the secondary winding.

5. The structure of claim 4 characterized in that the primary winding istwice as long as the secondary winding.

6. The structure of claim 5 characterized in that the primary winding is50 feet in length.

7. A radio receiving antenna comprising two wires inductively woundtogether in the same direction in coil form, both ends of one of saidwindings being free and unconnected to anything including ground toprovide an antenna primary circuit, the other winding being a econdaryhaving one end free and unconnected and its other end arranged forconnection to a radio receiving circuit.

8. A radio receiving antenna comprising a primary and a secondarywinding inductively coupled with each other by winding them side by sidein the same direction in the form of a coil, the primary winding beinglonger than the secondary winding and having its ends free andunconnected, the secondary winding having one end free and unconnectedand its other end arranged for connection with a radio receivingcircuit.

9. A radio receiving antenna comprising a primary and a secondarywinding inductively wound in the same direction relative to each otherin a helical coil to provide a high frequency coupling therebetween,said windings commencing together at one end, a radio receiving circuitconnection on said one end of the secondary winding, the other end ofthe secondary winding and both ends of the primary winding being freeand unconnected to anything including ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,284,155 Shartzer Nov. 5, 1918 2,328,024 Limb Aug. 31, 1943 FOREIGNPATENTS 17,411 Australia Dec. 17, 1928 34,068 France Nov. 10, 1928

